Memory Returned
by Nukari
Summary: Kuniko Arata lived in France for seven years after a fall-out with her family. But now, after a series of events, she is attending Ouran as a scholarship student and dressed in the male uniform. With her surprising looks she becomes the talk of class 1-A and soon the rest of the school. Just to top it all off, the Host Club will just not leave her alone! So much for anonymity.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own OHSHC

This is my first story. We'll see how it goes.

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She never meant for this to happen, to go to the same school as those who had abandoned her. But life always had a funny way of screwing her over.

With a sigh, Kuniko Arata brushed coppery locks from her forehead and looked up at the place that was sure to become her prison. Ouran High School was a formidable sight. Its sculpted pink spirals and pale marble walkways screamed money and prestige. For someone like her, she mused, it should scream untouchable class; but it didn't.

Arata had spent the last seven years living in a home for wayward youth – well, a boarding school for troubled young ladies in France, but the principle was the same. Chores, un-dyed linen, and working part-time for the bakery down the street hardly prepared a girl for interaction with the children of Japan's elite.

But then again, Arata had not always been part of the dregs of society. She remembered expensive dresses, lavish parties, and money with no end. Although Arata was no longer part of that world – that life, she could never truly free herself from it.

Once she had had brothers. Once she had a bedroom larger than the entirety of the apartment in which she now stayed. Once she could have been one of those girls in the banana yellow dresses with expensive purses and nothing but cobwebs in her brain.

Arata fingered the edge of the powder blue blazer that she now wore. Running calloused hands down the front of her neatly buttoned jacket, she smoothed out wrinkles that were not there, preparing to enter the somewhat foreboding building in front of her.

Quickly crossing the expansive courtyard, she placed her hands again the hard wood of the doors and pushed hard, giving herself no time to rethink her actions.

The doors opened onto a spacious and empty hallway. Class had started nearly an hour before her arrival.

Stepping in, the doors closed soundlessly behind her. Arata fingered the map and schedule tucked into her front left pocket. Although she has memorized both and knew the direction she should take, she debated whether or not to check the path to class 1-A.

A small twinge of nervousness began to form at Arata's temple and she brushed it away viciously. No, she thought determinedly, I was invited here. I am meant to be here. I will not be scared away so easily. With that, she started down the hallway to meet her fate… and her brothers.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I do not own OHSHC

I'm stilling working on this whole spacing/paragraph appearance thing. If something looks funky, I'll make an effort to fix it -Nukari

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The door to class 1-A flew open before she had even finished extending her hand to tap on it. Two figures stumbled out laughing as a third one, held between the others, struggled from their grasp.

Arata let her hand drop to her side as the door collided with her front.

Seeming not to notice the girl they had carelessly knocked aside, the group continued down the hallway as the door shut behind them.

"Haruhiiiiiii" whined the boy on the left.

"Hikaru," the one in the middle ground out, "I do not care what Tamaki-sempai says, class is more important than some stupid party!"

The taller boys, the twins she assumed from their identical fiery appearance, pulled the brown-haired one down the hall taking their conversation to far for her ears to hear.

She had not realized how identical they would still be. Arata let the hair she had so carefully tucked back earlier fall in front of her face, covering it nearly to her chin.

Adjusting her thick rimmed glasses beneath the veil of hair she was at a loss of what to do next.

They had not seen her yet and with a sudden rush of relief Arata realized she was happy about it.

She did not want them to recognize her. It would only cause more trouble, something she had promised Father she would try to avoid.

Remembering there was a restroom nearby Arata hurried down the hall, following the same path the boys had taken, before ducking down a side corridor.

Pausing only momentarily at the sign saying "Gentleman", she pushed open the door and hurried inside.

After confirming the restroom was deserted she opened her briefcase she drew out a draw string bag. Dumping the contents on the counter before her she rifled through the contents looking for her contact case and makeup bag.

Thanking the Lord that she had actually learned something useful to her in that god forsaken girl's school she began to pull out concealer, foundation, eyeliner, and the brown contacts the matron of her former school had forced her to wear after claiming her golden eyes were unnatural and distracting to the other ladies.

It had been nearly eight years since Arata had been this close to them. Her hair had darkened from the strawberry blonde of childhood to the red shade it now was; it was longer then too.

She no longer towered inches above them and was no longer as gangly as she once was. Not to mention, she was dressed as a male student. Arata looked nothing like the girl they once knew.

Unfortunately, she now looked exactly like them, those stupid brothers of hers. Shaking off thoughts of the past she set to work with only the smallest of smiles indicating what she thought of her plan.

If she was lucky, the teacher would buy her excuse of getting lost when she turned up even later than expected for class; she was a new student after all.

Finding a hair tie, she pulled her hair away from her face. Making quick work of her chosen tools she brushed product onto her face, enhancing the sharpness of her chin, softening her eyes, and making her nose look broader.

Satisfied that if she looked like she was a relation of Hitachiin brothers she appeared not to be a particularly close one, she placed the brown contacts over her golden orbs for the final touch.

If she had her way, she would get through this school year like she had promised Father and her brothers would never even know she was there. After that, she would leave Ouran forever and everything would go back to normal, or at least as normal as it ever was.

Removing the hair tie and letting her hair hang down once more, Arata packed away her belongings, snapped the suitcase shut, and after one last glance in the mirror, exited the restroom.


End file.
